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Tim Bowness - Lost in the Ghost Light CD (album) cover

LOST IN THE GHOST LIGHT

Tim Bowness

Crossover Prog


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3 stars Review # 48. It is possible that some of you are not familiar with the name Tim Bowness, so maybe it is better to begin by saying a few things about him. Tim Bowness is an English songwriter, singer, keyboard player and producer, who worked with many famous musicians during his career. He is mostly known as the vocalist and co-writer of Steven Wilson's project No-Man. But further than that, he worked with Robert Fripp (King Crimson), Phil Manzanera (Roxy Music), Hugh Hopper (Soft Machine) and Judy Dyble (Fairport Convention), among others. Lost in a Ghost Light is his brand new album, in which 13 musicians are participating. So, further than Tim, there are 12 more musicians, playing a rather wide variety of instruments, including some very good and famous musicians, such as Ian Anderson on flute, Colin Edwin (ex-Porcupine Tree) on bass, Bruce Soord (The Pineapple Thief) of guitars, and Kit Watkins (Camel) on flute and Waterphone (!). Let's take a closer look to the album now. Lost in a Ghost Light includes 8 tracks, and has a total running time of almost 45 minutes. Judging from the album's running time, I assume that it must also be available in Vinyl, further than the CD and Digital edition. It is a concept album, with the main story being about a Rock musician who is aging, and tries to share his fears about the future with us . You will not find any tales of alien invasions or the fall of humanity here, but rather the simplicity of a story about the life of a musician, that turns the album into a beautiful trip. The music is influenced by the sound of some legendary bands of the 70's mostly, such as Pink Floyd and/or Camel. It is a rather melodic and melancholic album, with very few exceptions, like ''Kill the Pain that's Killing You' for example. Based upon the 3-4 listening I've done so far, the songs I like the most are: 'Words of Yesterday' 'Nowhere good to Go' 'You'll be the Silence' and 'Distant Summers', including Ian Anderson on flute and Steve Bingham on violin. (Maybe the album's best moment). My rating would be between 3.0 and 3.5 stars
Report this review (#1697422)
Posted Tuesday, February 28, 2017 | Review Permalink
admireArt
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars A natural turn of events.

Tim Bowness' "Lost in the Ghost Light", 2017, musical language displays an ellaborated simplicity very much in tune with the best of Pop and Rock's easily radio waveable friendly songs. Of course this styling falls naturally in his slow paced, dream like ballads as in his most precious attribute his bare naked, fully emotional lyrics, where music as such is at their command.

It will be totally unwise to bash this project because of the before mentioned closeness to mainstream audiences, worse considering how narrow the borders between Prog and white Pop/Rock eventually turned out in these modern times and if anything (as always) his guest ensemble is quiet a dream team!

Clean, attractive and showing a healthy unpretentiousness, this release does not break any kind of unexplored grounds but emphasizes the well established and focused side of Tim Bowness' personal, atmospheric and melancholic moods and his up front approach in their musical expression as in his unmistakable narrative, moving, as told, towards detailed simplicity and transparent perfection.

*** 3.5 PA stars.

Report this review (#1702753)
Posted Thursday, March 16, 2017 | Review Permalink

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